


More Stress for Regionals

by Fabrisse



Category: Doctor Who (2005), Glee
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-07
Updated: 2014-07-07
Packaged: 2018-02-07 22:32:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1916394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fabrisse/pseuds/Fabrisse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zygons are at McKinley, but so are the Doctor and Martha.</p>
            </blockquote>





	More Stress for Regionals

**Author's Note:**

> Froggy Darren did the wonderful art for this work
> 
> The Martha Jones episodes are supposed to take place, subjectively for her, in the year they were filmed. That didn't really work for this story. So I have her entire arc taking place in the future from 2012, even though Martha had no idea how _Harry Potter_ ended in _The Shakespeare Code._
> 
>  
> 
> _Takes place between the **Glee** episodes "On My Way" and "Big Brother" and **Human Nature/Family of Blood** and **Blink** in the Whoverse._

It wasn't Karofsky. Kurt knew it wasn't Karofsky, couldn't be him, because he'd just had a conversation at the hospital, yesterday, and he didn't think Karofsky was going to be released. Also, it wasn't Azimio or another jock with him, but Jacob Ben-Israel and that was just, well, impossible.

Blaine did not look sufficiently terrified was his next thought. Granted it was hard to feel physically terrified of Jacob, but it was always possible the boy had some blackmail material on them and… no. Just no. Something was very wrong with this. 

He ran over to the dumpster, letting his books drop away from him. At the same time, he noticed a man, a teacher perhaps, running toward the dumpster as well. The man grabbed Blaine's hand and said, "Run."

Kurt picked up speed and grabbed Blaine's other hand and the three of them ran to a blue phone booth. "Um," he panted.

"It locks," the older man said.

Blaine said, "It's tiny…" The doors of the phone booth closed behind them and they stood staring at a wide open space.

Kurt looked behind him. "How do you fit all this in a phone booth?"

The man hit something on the panel in the middle and grinding, whooshing sound began. "It's not a phone booth. It's a police box. What year is this?"

Blaine answered, "Two thousand twelve."

"What counting system?"

Kurt said, "What?"

"Oh, and where am I?"

"Ohio," Blaine said looking at Kurt in a panic.

"Ohio? That really exists?"

"Um, who are you?" Kurt asked.

The man grinned at him. "I'm the Doctor. And you are?"

"Kurt Hummel."

"Blaine Anderson."

"Kurt Hummel? _The_ Kurt Hummel? And Blaine… oh. This could be a problem."

Kurt said, "Right, Doctor Whoever. Please explain what the hell we were running from."

"What? Two people are trying to put your friend in skip, and you don't think it's a good idea to run away?"

"I never have."

Blaine said, "He really hasn't. Even when he should have. Although, come to think of it, I've never seen Karofsky hang out with Jacob Ben Israel before."

Kurt said, "I'm pretty sure that wasn't Karofsky. I know it looked like him, but…"

"You're very observant," The Doctor said. "Those were Zygons. The good news is, your friends are still alive somewhere. If they die, the Zygons revert to their original shape."

They exchanged a glance. Blaine said, "Which is?"

"Orange covered in suckers. Bipedal, of course, it's a handy shape, but definitely not something that will win a beauty contest. Well, not in this quadrant of the galaxy. But what are Zygons doing in Ohio?" He looked at them. "You're what, sixth form?"

Blaine said, "That's in England. But, if I understood the Harry Potter books, yeah, Kurt's in sixth form and I'm in fifth."

The Doctor looked them up and down. "Interesting school uniforms."

Kurt shook his head. "These are costumes. Oh, my god, we're not going to miss our performance are we?"

"What time is it now?"

Blaine said "Around half past four."

"Right, well…" the Doctor flipped a couple of levers.

"We're taking off again? Already? I haven't even seen the shining serpentine of Sos." A young woman in a red leather jacket came out from the back.

"Missed Sos. Missed 3456 for that matter. We're in 2012 and someplace called Ohio."

"What, in America?" She took in the two young men in their black and gold attire. "Sorry, didn't see you. I'm Martha. And you are?"

"Kurt Hummel and this is my boyfriend Blaine Anderson."

Martha looked at the Doctor. "You're having me on. Kurt Hummel. _The_ Kurt Hummel and you're, you're his Blaine."

"I think of myself as my Blaine first. But, I'm Kurt's, too."

"Of course you are, honey." Kurt kissed his cheek and said to Martha, "I love that jacket."

Martha turned to the Doctor. "So why here?"

"Zygons. Less scary than Daleks or Cybermen, but…"

"Giant orange sucker things that take over your body are _less_ scary than the things you mentioned?" Blaine was incredulous.

"All we need to do is find your friends bodies and free them and then figure out where the Zygons are and remind them this planet is protected so they can go elsewhere."

"But Doctor, how did these Zygons get here, any way?"

He peered at something on a screen and then moved to another screen. "They seem to have arrived sometime in the late nineteenth century during the Geminid meteor showers." He checked the first screen again. "1898 according to the atmospheric disturbance. Their ship ended up buried. No problem for them, of course, big on cryosleep, the Zygons. The question is, why are they waking up now? Over a hundred years later."

Blaine said, "Is this a time machine?"

Martha looked at him. "Why do say that?"

"Well, he mentioned 3456 like it was a year and you're saying Kurt's name like you're from the future."

"I was about to say you read too much sci-fi, but you're right." Kurt looked puzzled. "If this is a time machine, can't we go back and prevent the orange sucker things…"

"Zygons," the Doctor said helpfully.

"Zygons," Kurt said, "Can't we just prevent them from ever landing. And then you can explain to us about the whole time machine thing."

Martha said, "That part's easy. He's a nine-hundred year old alien with two hearts and a weird screwdriver and this," she waved her arm to encompass the vast interior, "is his space ship. By the way, Doctor, I am not going back to their civil war. I had enough problems in the Edwardian era."

Blaine said, "One, 1898 is over thirty years after our Civil War, and two, Ohio was pretty progressive back then. Oberlin let men and women of all races study at university together from the time it opened in 1833."

"Are you thinking of going to Oberlin?" Kurt asked.

He shrugged and said, "It's Dad's alma mater."

The Doctor said, "And, besides, we can't just go back and change things. I mean, this isn't a war or Pompeii or anything too important, but it is, now, a fixed point in time and that means it can't unhappen."

Kurt said, "So you're just going to let these Zygons take over people and invade Ohio?"

"Of course not," Martha said, "He'll come up with something. With luck before anyone's died." She stared pointedly at the Doctor.

"No one's going to die today," the Doctor said, staring at one of the screens again. "What happened today? Let's see, Congress tried to repeal Obamacare again, some state I can't pronounce tried to guarantee that marriage could only be between one man and one woman. Obviously, they've never met Jack…" he muttered about climate change for a moment.

Kurt looked up from his phone and said, "Um, a huge sinkhole opened in the school parking lot about an hour ago. Twitter says the governor is attributing it to fracking."

"Oh! Oh! That's brilliant. Well, not brilliant because it probably wasn't planned, but the Zygons are trapped so deeply they don't even wake from their cryosleep and then this fracking happens and the sinkhole… Of course, the sunlight hitting the shell of the ship would power it up. Once the computer establishes that it's the right kind of atmosphere, it would begin waking up the inhabitants. An hour ago?"

Blaine shrugged, "Maybe an hour and a half by now. The really good news is it was after the school day, so the only car lost was Mister Schue's."

Kurt said, "And that's not really a loss. It may have caused global warming all on its own."

"All right, so at most we have four Zygons wandering about at the moment, although, in another half hour that could double. If the ship was able to be passed off as a shooting star, then it's probably one of the smaller ones, not more than forty crew. Fifty tops."

Martha said, "So it would be better to stop them now while they don't outnumber us, yeah?"

"Oh, right, yes."

"What can we do?" Blaine asked.

"I'm not very good with guns," Kurt said.

"Of course not. Brains are what conquer aliens."

Kurt said, "You mean, like you?"

"Usually, I'm providing the brains, and you funny humans are providing the optimism."

Martha shook her head. "So we're funny humans again are we?"

"Yeah, you really are."

***  
Coming up with a plan was simpler than Blaine had feared. Martha and the Doctor couldn't go anywhere without Kurt and Blaine because they didn't know what the denizens of McKinley usually behaved like -- and trying to explain Coach Sylvester to them had not made it any easier -- and Kurt and Blaine couldn't go anywhere without the Doctor and Martha because they had no real way of telling a Zygon from a human. What was scarier, the Doctor had a remote control that he called a Zygon Detector and looked a little like the rabbit ears Blaine could remember on his grandmother's television back when he was in pre-school. On the other hand, Martha seemed pretty badass.

Blaine found her alone under the console doing something with what looked to be wires.

Martha grinned. "I haven't really done this before, but if I hook it up right the TARDIS will be electrified on the outside. Should stop the Zygons from trying to get in."

"Anything I can do to help?"

She handed him a bundle of wires. "Hold this and don't let the ends touch anything. I need to…" She crawled under a stairwell looking for something.

"Martha, is it all right if I ask you questions?"

"Sure. Can't guarantee I'll answer." She shook her head. "Stay here long enough and you start to bloody sound like him. What's up?"

"When are you from?"

Martha peered at him. "What year were you born?"

"1996."

"So was I."

Blaine blinked. "Didn't the Doctor say you were a doctor or nearly one? Or did he mean like he's a doctor?"

"No, he meant medical doctor, and I've completed my degree and I'm nearly done with my residency."

"So you're about ten years ahead of us."

Martha sat down and smiled at him. "Close enough."

"Will we forget all this?"

"Depends on how long you're in the TARDIS, I've been told. Stay a few days, and you'll remember most of it. You'll know the Doctor again when you see him. Stay longer and you'll never be able to forget."

Blaine met her eyes, "Like the Edwardian era?"

"Don't get me started. But, yeah, like that."

"Am I dead? In your time, I mean."

"What?"

"Well, you recognized Kurt. The Doctor recognized Kurt. And you called me 'his Blaine' so I thought maybe I was just a story he told."

Martha nudged him with her shoulder. "You _are_ a story he tells. And he's a story you tell. I can't say much because it interferes with timelines and stuff, but when I'm at uni, I wait out all night with some friends of mine to get tickets to one of your concerts Blaine Anderson. I even got your autograph afterward."

"So are we together?"

"You and Kurt? Oh, yes. But Kurt's… look, if I tell you what happens, it might not and it has to, but you'll be known for your music. Kurt will be known for so much else, and that's not saying anything against you…"

"No. I get it. Kurt, Kurt's extraordinary. He really is the bravest person I know. It doesn't surprise me that a decade from now, he's still brave and strong and extraordinary."

"He needs you, too. You're part of why he's strong. You're part of what he fights for."

Blaine nodded. "Thank you. I mean, even if I were dead in your future, if Kurt was still talking about me, that would mean a lot, but it's nice to know I'm alive."

The Doctor's head popped down between them wearing a pair of glasses. "Hello. How's the wiring coming?"

"Just need to plug the bundle Blaine's holding in, and then the circuit will be complete. How do we get in and out?"

The Doctor grinned. "She knows us. The TARDIS will open only to us."

Blaine said, "Which us?"

"Oh, you and Kurt, too, at least until we get rid of the Zygons. By the way, I think they've holed up in your school. Who's likely to still be there?"

Kurt came down the steps and stared at them. "Can anyone join this party?"

"Of course," The Doctor said, "Just wanting to know who might still be in your school."

"If Coach Sylvester is still there, Becky is still there. She might also have kept the Cheerios late, so that's a whole bunch of girls in ponytails and short skirts for the aliens to take over. Figgins -- he's the principal. Coach Bieste, maybe? Finn said there was no basketball practice today."

Blaine said, "Artie mentioned an AV club meeting. Science club is going on a field trip Saturday, so they're not meeting. Prom committee which means Santana and Quinn are probably around, too."

"In other words, it's not an empty building," The Doctor said.

Kurt shook his head. "No."

"Well, then, best get a move on. Where might we find a dark place with a certain amount of damp?"

Kurt and Blaine looked at each other and said, in unison, "The boys' locker room."

Martha nodded and took the bundle of cables from Blaine. "Sounds like a place to start," she said as she plugged them into the TARDIS' exterior outlet.

***  
They found found Karofsky's and Jacob's bodies covered in creepy, vine-like cobwebs nearly immediately. Kurt wouldn't admit it out loud, but there was a small part of him that smiled to see Karofsky stuffed into a locker. Then he remembered all the awful things that had happened to Dave, and sighed.

The Doctor said, "You can brush the coverings off. It's what's keeping them asleep and passive. They'll be a bit groggy at first, but they should be fine.

Kurt said, "And then the Zygons will turn back into orange sucker things?"

"No, once they've taken a form they can keep it or revert to it at any time. Hmm, we need someplace to keep them where we know they are themselves and not the Zygon versions of themselves."

Blaine asked, "Is this stuff draining their life energy or drinking their blood or anything?"

The Doctor said, "No. I mean they'll kill most of the human population later when they've taken over…"

"Which isn't going to happen, Doctor!" Martha said.

"Of course not."

"Hey, what are you all doing in here? There's no practice today."

The Doctor turned to Kurt and Blaine and whispered, "And that is…?"

"Coach Bieste."

Martha said, "That's a cruel nickname. She may be larger than average, but she's not a beast."

Blaine spelled it and said, "It's really her name, and she's really nice."

Coach Bieste turned the corner and saw them. "Kurt, do you even have a locker here?"

"No, Coach."

She peered at the threads covering Karofsky and Ben-Israel. "I take it that's not silly string."

"No, Coach," this time it was Blaine who answered.

"Neither of you strikes me as pranksters, but I know these two have made your lives hell, so…"

The Doctor pulled a wallet with a card in it. He glanced at it and raised his eyebrows before saying, "I'm from the 'International Show Choir Federation' and this is my assistant Doctor Jones. I just asked these two fine young men to show me around the school before tonight's performance."

"Why does a choir need a doctor?" She asked.

Martha sighed before putting on a smile and answering, "The Show Choir Federation knows that some schools go to extremes and I look after throats, and my colleague here," she raised an eyebrow at the Doctor and continued, "Is a specialist in podiatry. For the dancing."

The Doctor had put on his glasses and waved the detector thing over Coach Bieste while Martha had her distracted. He gave a thumbs up. "Look, Coach, we just found this and we're worried about these young men. Could you watch them while we find the school principal and see what's going on?"

"Sure thing. I need to disinfect the showers any way. I might as well keep an eye on these two while I'm doing it."

Blaine said, "Thanks, Coach."

When the four of them were back in the hall he took the paper out of the Doctor's hand and said, "Why in the world would you have something like this prepared?"

Kurt looked over his shoulder and said, "Blaine, it's blank."

The Doctor grinned. "Psychic paper. You see what you expect to see."

"Unless you're Shakespeare," Martha said.

Blaine side-eyed her. "You've met Shakespeare?"

"I'm the Dark Lady of the sonnets if you can believe it. Mind you, he flirted with the Doctor just as much -- maybe more."

Kurt said, "This isn't helping us catch Zygons before we have to get to our warm-up. Not that I'm doing much more than backing Rachel and Finn in the first song."

Blaine said, "I know we only have one detector, but I think we should split up, so we find them faster?"

The Doctor said, "Too dangerous."

Martha said, "What's the range on that thing, Doctor?"

"About twenty meters in all directions."

Kurt nodded and said, "Blaine, you take the other side of the hall, Martha and I will check the girls' locker room very quickly and then we can have the Doctor walk down the middle of the hall with his detector while you and I open each classroom and inspect them visually. There aren't too many with closets. It'll be faster and we'll all be in contact at all times."

"Tell you what," Martha said, "Blaine and I will check the rooms on either side of the hall and you will stick with the Doctor to talk to any teachers or students we come across. No offense, Kurt, but I don't know this place and you do."

Kurt smiled. "I get it. And I'm logical because I've been here longer than Blaine."

Blaine said, "You're logical because you can actually manage a conversation with Coach Sylvester."

It only took them a few moments to check the girl's locker room and the gym before implementing their plan.

When they finally got to Figgins' office, they reported a fungus infection in the boys' locker room and listened to him explain that his hands were tied.

As they approached the Cheerios practice space they could hear Coach Sylvester barking, "You think that's hard, try painting a Vermeer. THAT'S hard!"

The Doctor ran toward the harsh voice. 

Sue Sylvester turned around and said, "Porcelain."

"Coach."

"Where's Pippin?"

"Blaine's in the building checking out Figgins office."

She looked at the Doctor before turning back to Kurt. "I've always said you could do better than a be-gelled gnome, but this one looks old enough to be your father."

Kurt, who'd been treated to Martha's rundown on the Doctor's actual age, just smiled and said, "Blaine knows he can trust me."

The Doctor hit the machine in his hand a few times before pulling out another handheld device and pointing it at the Zygon detector. 

Sue put the bullhorn back to her lips and yelled. "Firm up that pyramid! If I say so, this one will last longer than the ones in Egypt." She lowered the bullhorn. "You could be the Sphinx if you wanted, Porcelain."

"I appreciate it coach, but right now we're checking the school for aliens."

"I could help. I was at Roswell, you know."

Kurt said, "We'll call on you for back-up if we need it."

There was an odd puffing sound from the structure of cheerleaders and Kurt said, "Doctor? Bring that over here."

"There must be something wrong with this thing," the Doctor muttered. "That woman was the worst impersonation of a human that I've seen."

"No, that was just Coach Sylvester. You're lucky you met her on a good day."

The Doctor's eyes went wide behind his glasses. "This is a _good_ day."

Kurt nodded. "Wave your machine over the pyramid please."

"Why?"

"Because I know the Cheerios. They're rock solid, and this isn't long to hold a pyramid for them. No one should be panting like a freight train."

As he said it, the pyramid collapsed as Santana and one of the girls at the bottom of the structure popped flat and turned into… orange things with suckers all over their bodies. Kurt shook his head and said, "Well, we've found our two Zygons, now what?"

The Doctor grinned. "Now we run. Martha!"

***  
When the school building inspection hadn't yielded a Zygon, the Doctor sent Martha back to the TARDIS to get something to make a containment field and, with Blaine helping, they'd put it around the sinkhole which had started the whole mess.

Now, Blaine said, "Is that Kurt and the Doctor? And…?"

Martha followed where he was pointing. "So that's a Zygon. They're shorter than I'd imagined for some reason."

Blaine said, "What do we do?"

Martha lifted one of the devices they'd set around the sinkhole and moved backward a bit. "Can you pick up that one and move it like I'm doing?"

Blaine nodded and ran over to it. The Doctor, closely followed by Kurt, was making straight for the space between the two of them. 

"When I count three, turn yours off. The Zygons will most likely follow the Doctor."

"And if they don't?"

"Then turn it back on and run. One, two, three!"

Blaine turned his off and the Doctor and Kurt flew by him. The two Zygons followed as Martha had predicted. 

"Back on now," the Doctor shouted, and Blaine flipped the switch again. Kurt and the Doctor were standing behind Martha and the Zygons were inside the containment field.

Coach Sylvester came striding up to them. "Where's the rest of my pyramid?" she yelled at the containment field.

The Zygons backed away from her with their tentacles up placatingly. One said, "They are unharmed in a small room with brushes."

Blaine shrugged. "I knew we should have picked the lock on the janitor's closet."

The Doctor said, "Yes, well, sorry about that."

"Are these the same two we saw earlier or do we have to find two more?" Martha asked.

"Good question," the Doctor said. He turned to the captured Zygons. "How many of you left the ship?"

The other Zygon said, "We shut down the revival process until scouting was completed. Just we two."

Kurt said, "He's lying."

The first Zygon turned toward his companion and then to the Doctor. "We did shut down the revival process, but we were not the first. One other came before us."

The Doctor said, "I see." He waved his Zygon detector over Martha, Kurt, and Blaine. "So it must be you!" he said to Sue Sylvester. "I knew something was off on the calibration."

"Doctor!" Kurt shouted. "I think the Zygon is more likely to be Principal Figgins."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because he's running behind you -- away from the school."

Blaine saw where Kurt was pointing and peeled out toward the running figure. 

Martha said, "He's going for the TARDIS," and began running directly for the blue box.

They all saw the Zygon hit the exterior and be electrified. It collapsed in a heap.

Kurt, Sue, and the Doctor walked toward it. 

The Doctor said, "Don't touch it. If it revives while you are it can take your form."

Sue raised the bullhorn to her lips "Becky. Get two Cheerios and the stretcher." 

A faint cry of, "Got it, Coach" came over the grassy area and two boys in Cheerios uniforms came running double time with the stretcher between them. 

Sue pulled rubber gloves out of her pocket and handed a pair to the Doctor. "I presume they can only transform if they touch bare skin?"

The Doctor peered at her. "Yes. Have we met before?"

"I was living in Los Angeles while I was getting my Master's. Had to spend the night in a hospital. You looked different then."

"I was a different man, then."

They got the Zygon on the stretcher and took him to the containment field. 

The Doctor turned to the Zygons. "Does your ship work?"

The one on the stretcher said, "Yes."

"Then I suggest you get back in it and fly elsewhere. This planet is protected."

The first one said, "We understand," staring not at the Doctor, but at Sue Sylvester. "It is protected quite well."

***  
Sue had gone back to the school to free everyone and come up with a good explanation. Before she departed, her mouth quirked in a half smile as she said, "Porcelain, while his hair may be holding small woodland creatures, I think your boyfriend may actually be worthy of you."

"Thank you, Coach."

"And now I have to go explain to Figgins that his hands really were tied for once." 

The Doctor and Martha were whispering together as Kurt and Blaine came up to them. 

Kurt said, "There's only about half an hour before our warm-up, so Blaine and I need to go."

Blaine looked at the TARDIS with longing as he nodded.

The Doctor said, "Well, what about seeing the Serpentine of Sos before you do. We have a whole wardrobe inside so what you have on could be cleaned and pressed by the time you get back. One trip, one time offer."

Martha said, "Take it. There's nothing like it. He can get you back five minutes from now and you'll have clean clothes when you do."

Blaine turned puppy dog eyes on Kurt who smiled back at him softly. "I'd like that. If only so I can know what is serpentine on Sos."

They began to walk toward the TARDIS, and Martha said, "Yeah, I wondered about that, too. He says it's a marvel."  
***  
The Doctor busied himself at the controls, and Martha went to show Blaine where the library was.

Kurt peered over his shoulder and asked, "Why Earth?"

The Doctor said, "Lactic acid. They go after planets with good sources of lactic acid."

"They were here for the cows?"

"Well, any mammal really. Keep the females, enough males to keep the females producing milk. Goats are good. Humans can be too much trouble. I mean, yes, they could use wine and kimchi, but really keeping dairy herds is so much easier."

"And humans are too much trouble?"

The Doctor grinned. "You really are. It's brilliant."

***  
They were back only two minutes after they'd left. After the Serpentine of Sos, which proved to be a week long procession done once every thousand years by an entire planet full of people, they had spent about a week in seventeenth century Oxford observing the introduction of coffee to England, and another few days in nineteen twenties New York where Kurt and Blaine were treated to the opening night of _Funny Face_ on Broadway.

Kurt said, "You could stay for the performance. Blaine's got a rap during our first song."

The Doctor grinned, "And what are you singing?"

"Fill-in parts. They wouldn't let me join the Trouble Tones."

Martha said, "Trouble Tones?"

"The all girl part of New Directions. My voice blends well there."

Blaine said, "Your voice blends well everywhere. He's singing second soprano in the first song and baritone -- because it's set a little higher than most baritone parts -- in the third one. Kurt's amazing."

Kurt glanced at Martha's watch and said, "Blaine?"

"Yeah, I know. Doctor, Martha, this has been the strangest, most wonderful…" Blaine looked at Kurt, "Second most wonderful experience of my life."

Kurt said, "Of _our_ lives. Thank you." He hugged the Doctor very quickly and then said, "Thank you both," as he hugged Martha tightly.

Blaine hugged them both, too, and casting a last longing look at the TARDIS, he took Kurt's hand to go back to school. He said, "Martha told me that people don't usually remember their encounters with the Doctor. Some remember a vague something happening, but it takes time in the TARDIS to cement memories."

"The Doctor said something similar to me. Did you ever find out why they recognized my name? I'm not dead, am I? It's not some sort of Matthew Sheppard thing, is it?"

Blaine kissed his cheek. "She wouldn't give me details, but we're both alive and making music in her when."

"That's a relief." 

They saw Quinn trying on her Cheerio's uniform and Blaine said, "Looking good, Fabray."

Kurt added, "See you in show circle."

Quinn grinned. "I'll be there."

***  
Martha looked at the Doctor. "Please. We'll even get to hear Mercedes Jones!"

The Doctor smiled indulgently, "Of course, Martha Jones. You'll be able to say you saw them before they were famous. And, don't be surprised if they contact you in the future -- once you're back from your adventures."

"It was tough, you know, not giving them hints about the rocky bits in their relationship. I've read the interviews, and I know at least one of the challenges for them will be here soon. Plus, I really want to hear Kurt sing _I Have Nothing_."

The Doctor looked at her seriously. "You do understand why."

"Yeah, and I didn't let anything slip, but, like I said, it was tough." She gave a half laugh. "Is it like that for you all the time?"

"Not often. But I don't usually have long times without things getting too exciting to worry about letting the future slip. I'm too busy trying to guarantee that there is a future -- that time does what it's supposed to." He patted her shoulder. "Where do you want to go next? You really seemed to like Oxford."

"Nah, been there. What about the 1960s? I hear Swinging' London was really something else."

"Oh, yeah. I know exactly where to park to hear the Beatles _Sergeant Pepper_ album for the first time."

"I'd like that, Doctor."

***  
London 2024 - after Harold Saxon is gone

Martha had done it. She'd completed her residency with flying colors and now UNIT was asking her to join. As a former companion of the Doctor's, she'd be invaluable to them, and the salary they'd offered her reflected the value.

She heard the mail flap slam shut and went down to see what had come at six in the morning.

There was a card:

_Hi Martha --_

_We planned to do some sightseeing with the kids today. We'd love it if you joined us._

_Meet us at the Westminster Docks at 9:30, if you can. Or call us at the number below if something sounds better than Hampton Court."_

_Love,_

_Kurt and Blaine_

Martha grinned as she went upstairs to select her outfit.


End file.
